Welt-shoe and counter therefor



J. B. HADAWAY. WELT SHOE AND COUNTER THEREFOR.

APPLICATION FILED JULY 8. 1916.

Patented Apr. 20, 1920.

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JOHN B. HADAWAY, 0F SWAMPSCOTT, Mr'LSSACI-IUSETTS, ASSIGNOR, BY" MESNE ASSIGN- MENTS, TO UNITED SHOE MACHINERY CORPORATION, OF PATERSON, NEW JERSEY,

A CORPORATION OF NEW JERSEY.

Specification of Letters Patent.

WELT-SHOE AND COUNTER THEREFOR.

Patented Apr. 20, 1920.

Application filed July 8, 1916. Serial No. 108,158.

To all whom it may concern:

. Be it known that I, JOHN B. HADAWAY, a citizen of the United States, residing at Swampscott, in the county of Essex and State of Massachusetts, have invented certain Improvements in VVelt-Shoes and Counters Therefor, of which the following description, in connection with the accompanying drawings, is a specification, like reference characters on the drawings indicating like parts in the several figures.

This invention relates to the manufacture of welt shoes and has for its object to provide an improved shoe in which novel means are employed for maintaining the proper lines of the shoe at and adjacent to the joint of the heel seat with the shank.

The heel seat portion of a last upon which a shoe is made is provided with an angular edge while just in front of the heel seat this edge merges into the rounded or convex contour of the shank of the last. In good shoemaking it is important to reproduce these lines in the shoe, maintaining the well defined edge line as far forward as it extends on the last.

In the manufacture of welt shoes it is necessary to extend the inseam back beyond the heel breast line and under the heel a short distance to obtain the proper joint between the shank and the heel seat. The body of the counter is held in place in the shoe by tacks through the inturned flange of the counter around the heel seat and the wings of the counter are secured in place by including the flange in the inseam.

The inclusion of the counter flange in the inseam throws the ends of the inseam outward, that is, locates the outer sides of the inseam at the right and left sides of the shoe objectionably close to the edge of the last. This is not important in the shank, where the last bottom edge is rounded, but at the front end of the heel seat this wide inseam distorts the edge line of the shoe and prevents reproducing in the shoe the shape of the last. Also in close edge styles of shoes, which require to be trimmed narrow at the joint, the extra width of the inseam at the joint frequently causes the stitches to be cut at the outer side of the inseam.

To mitigate the evils of this condition so far as possible inseam sewing machine operators are always taught to manipulate the shoe so as to avoid sewing wide as far as they can; lasting machines have been organized to force the counter flange as closely as possible to the lip of the insole, and counters have been molded to produce a flange lying fiat on the feather of the insole and a lip standing upright against the rib of the insole.

In one of its aspects this invention consists in cutting away or recessing a portion of the counter which ordinarily extends between the upper and the rib of the insole at the breast of the heel. By this procedure the bulkiness of the between-substance at the joint is relieved and the inseam is located in its correct position for maintaining the proper lines of the shoe.

In the illustrated embodiment of the in vention, the portions of the counter extending between the upper and the rib of the innersole at the breast of the heel are recessed at both sides whereby the shoe upper may be directly inseamed to the rib of the innersole at the recessed portions of the counter.

The invention will be more fully understood from the following description considered in connection with the accompanying drawings and will be particularly defined in the claims.

In the drawings,

Figure l is an unmol'ded counter or a counter blank showing in dotted lines" the location at which it is to be cut away to allow the upper of a shoe to be stitched directly to the rib of the insole at the joint of the shank and heel seat of the shoe.

Fig. 2 shows an upper and insole assembled on a last with the counter molded to produce an unbroken line along the marginal edge of the insole and having a portion cut away on either side to cause the counter to terminate at the rib of the insole for the purpose of allowing the upper to contact with the rib.

Fig. 3 shows the shoe produced in accordance with this invention.

A counter blank or an unmolded counter is indicated in Fig. 1, it being customary with some manufacturers to employ an unmolded counter and shape it during the lasting operation while many other manufacturers use counters which are molded to the lines of the last previous to lasting. Such molded counters comprise a rear or body portion 2, wings or side portions 3 that extend forwardly into the shank portion of the shoe, and a flange 4: that overlies the margin of the heel seat of the insole 5 when the shoe is assembled and extends forwardly along the feather 6 of the insole in the shank. The flange 4: is tacked down to the heel seat portion of the insole 5 during the lasting operation as shown in Fig. 2 and is forced over the feather 6 on either side of the insole in the shank and temporarily fasu er.

The dotted lines 10 in Fig. 1 indicate approximately the preferred lines on which to cut away or recess the counter or blank to obtain the benefits of this invention. The recesses are preferably formed in the unmolded counter or the blank before the shoe is assembled and before the molding operation on a molded counter, but they might, if desired, be formed by cutting away portions of the flange after lasting the shoe. Each of these recesses should be so located and of such length as to allow from two to four stitches, counting from the end of the inseam 15, to pass through them and draw the upper directly against the rib of the insole. The wings 3 of the counter should have sufficient flange in front of the recesses 10, as at A, to allow the end portions of the wings to be sewed into the inseam in the shank to hold the wings securely in place in the shoe. The depth of the recesses 10 may vary and include more or less of the width of the flange 4.

When the parts are properly prepared and assembled as in Fig. 2, the inseam is sewed, as in Fig. 3, to draw the upper inwardly into direct contact with the insole rib at the joint and to fasten the counter win s in front of the joint.

aving explained the nature of this invention and described how it may be used,

I claim as new and desire to secure by Let ters Patent of the United States 1. A molded counter provided with an inturned flange portion at the forward ends of the counter and around the heel seat portion of the counter and having the portion of the flange in the region of'the heel breast line of the counter cut away so as not to be included in the inseam of a shoe.

2. A counter formed to produce in a shoe an unbroken line along the marginal edge of the insole and having a portion turned inwardly to overlie the feather of the insole and terminating at the rib of the insole and having at the ends of the counter an inturned portion to contact with the rib of the insole and be sewed in the inseam.

3. An unmolded counter or counter blank having its flange forming edge recessed to present at each side of a shoe a portion terminating in the shoe outside of the rib of the insole and situated between a flange portion located at the end of the stiffener wing and wide enough to be included in the inseam and a flange portion located to overlie the heel seat.

4:. A counter comprising a body portion and wings to embrace the heel portion of a last, and a flange to overlie the margin of a welt shoe insole, said flange comprising a heel seat portion adapted to be tacked to the insole, and a portion at the end of a wing wide enough to overlie the feather of the insole and be sewed into the inseam between the shoe upper and the insole rib, said flange being cut away between said two portions to allow the upper to be sewed directly to the insole rib near the end of the inseam without the interposition of the counter stock.

5. A welt shoe having the upper stitched directly to the insole rib by the inseam at the joint of the heel seat and shank and having the flange of the counter included in the inseam in front of the joint.

In testimony whereof I have signed my name to this specification.

JOHN B. HADAVVAY. 

